Jan Soens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑn ˈsuns]; c. 1547 – c. 1611), also known as Giovanni Sons, was a Dutch painter from 's-Hertogenbosch.
Biography edit
According to Karel van Mander he moved to Antwerp to live with a schoolmaster named Jacob Boon, whereupon he taught himself the rudiments of painting.[1] After becoming proficient, he moved in with the painter Gillis Mostaert, and assisted him creating landscape paintings in the manner of Gillis' twin brother Frans Mostaert.[1] A few of these early landscapes could be seen in Amsterdam at the home of Hendrick Louwersz Spieghel at the time Karel van Mander was writing in 1604.[1] Soens and he had met during Karel van Mander's trip to Italy, where Soens made small pieces on copper for the Pope in Rome.[1]
According to the RKD he was in Rome from 1573 and in Parma from 1575.[2] He was particularly active from 1575 with the Farnese in Rome, and in Piacenza and Parma in the early seventeenth century.[3] He painted history works, such as the mannerist Jupiter and Antiope,[4] as well as religious paintings reflecting the Council of Trent's decrees on art and Counter Reformation ideals of clearly represented piety.[5] He died in Parma between 1611 and 1614.
Notes edit
- ^ a b c d (in Dutch) Jan Soens in Karel van Mander's Schilder-boeck, 1604, courtesy of the Digital Library for Dutch Literature
- ^ Jan Soens in the RKD
- ^ Béguin (1990): 275; 278.
- ^ Museo di Capodimonte (Italian) Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Béguin (1990): 278.
References edit
- Béguin, Sylvie. "An Unpublished Drawing by Jan Soens at Windsor Castle." Master Drawings, vol. 28, no. 3. (Autumn, 1990), pp. 275–279.
- Museo di Capodimonte, Jan Sons, Jupiter and Antiope (Italian)
- Jan Soens[permanent dead link] on Artnet